The Gaia-Worshippingist Place on Earth
The Gaia-Worshippingist Place on Earth
How the Los Angeles Times' crusade to electrify a child (and adult-child's) amusement park ride will allegedly prevent the oceans from boiling.
“Come with me and you'll be
In a world of pure imagination
Take a look and you'll see
Into your imagination
We'll begin with a spin
Traveling in the world of my creation
What we'll see will defy explanation”
-Willy Wonka
I minus I: Nowhere
Utopia is a term coined by Sir Thomas More in 1516 for his book of the same name, which depicts an ideal society on an imaginary island. The word Utopia itself comes from the Greek "ou-topos" meaning "no place" or "nowhere," but it has also been interpreted as "eu-topos," which means "a good place." In Sir Thomas More's vision, Utopia is a complex, self-contained community where people share resources and there is no private property but the concept of Utopia has evolved over time and is now used more generally to describe any visionary system of political or social perfection.
Today, the term is often applied to discussions of idealistic or idealized social, political, and ethical reforms, encompassing everything from ecological sustainability to ideal government systems, often used both seriously and satirically to critique the status quo.
Long-time readers of this ‘Stack may see where this will go…
I: Some Place on Earth
On one 1955 Sunday in the under the warm Southern California sun, surrounded by orange groves, open space, and an orange’s throw from ribbon of asphalt known as “The 101” a special place opened. On that day, the guests were mostly media figures, employees, and others invited by the event’s hosts. One such guest included Ronald Reagan, long before he made his move into politics, instead then working as one of several broadcasters beaming the event (in black and white) to millions of television screens across the country.
Another was the Walt Disney.
And that special place was Disneyland otherwise deemed “The Happiest Place on Earth.”
Disneyland was far from the first theme park, but needless to say Walt Disney’s creation - the only one of the several Disney theme parks built under his direct supervision - “disrupted” the theme park industry. Disneyland was so popular in influential even in its early days that Nikita Khrushchev asked to visit during a trip to the United States in the late 1950s. Second to Magic Kingdom, a part of the even larger Walt DisneyWorld theme park and resort complex in Florida, Disneyland remains the most visited and recognizable theme park in the world having drawn over 15 million visitors per year, each year since 2009 excluding the two years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Part of Disneyland’s secret sauce was its number of “themed” lands offering multiple parks in one. The first of these themed lands were Main Street USA, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. Lined with shops and restaurants, Mainstreet USA was modeled after a typical Midwest town of the early 20th century. It also served as the main entrance to the park. Adventureland provided a tropical exploration theme, offering adventures that evoke the remote jungles of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and the South Pacific. Frontierland invoked the frontier of the American West in the 19th century offering attractions that emphasize American history and folklore, such as Mark Twain-themed riverboat ride. Fantasyland focused on many of fairy tail as well as common Disney characters of the era, it’s here where the famous Sleeping Beauty Castle was and still is located. Last but not least was Tomorrowland, the section of the theme park that romanticized 1950’s visions of the future - space travel, the atomic age, and the automobile.
That last one, Tomorrowland, of course wasn’t entirely new but the Post WWII economic boom in the United States helped accelerate what was already arguably the country with the highest use of automobiles. Tomorrowland had a ride for that: Autopia, a portmanteau of “Automobile” and “Utopia.”
Autopia was (and still is) a ride where the park guests can drive in a miniaturized freeway system complete with traffic signs, staffed police cars, and overpasses in miniature cars powered by small two-stoke gasoline engines. Richfield Oil Corporation (predecessor to ARCO) initially sponsored the ride and featured their advertisements all over the ride.
But the cars were hardly futuristic, they were ultra-slow, were styled after the cars of the 1940s and 1950s, and they were primarily driven by children in laps around an amusement park accessible mostly to middle and upper class families in a developed nation. That said, the ride has proved a hit, whether it’s provided the opportunity for children to “drive” like their parents do, or for a time killer while waiting for another ride. The 1950s were also the beginning of the construction of the Interstate Highway System, which would eventually convert the nearby 101 to Interstate The 5 - one of the most heavily traveled roads in the country, a main artery delivering visitors to Disneyland, and when congested can have slower traffic speeds than the cars in Autopia.
The original Autopia expanded over the years with extensions of the “freeway system”, changed sponsors several times (from Chevron to Honda) and other Disney theme parks also feature the ride. Initially the track was a bit of a free for all allowing guests to mix Grand Turismo and county fair bumper cars but later, the track was modified with rails which each car to this day follows - making something as simple as a “lane change” or any collision other than a direct rear-end impossible. The front and rear of the cars are also equipped with springy buffers - to minimize damage to the cars themselves and the occupants. The cars in the modern rendition of Autotopia can only top out at about six miles per hour - such speed is about the slowest a skilled bicyclist can do without wobbling.
Autopia changed cars, engines, and sponsors over the years too. By the early 2000s California-based Chevron took over sponsorship and swapped the cars with ones similar to the “Chevron cars” used in their marketing campaigns. (This was before the ultra successful Disney franchise Cars, which later received rides of its own in Disney theme parks.) As part of an overall effort for Disney to take their parks “green,” which included using recycled glass instead of paint to create their fake coral reefs, converting their submarines from diesel to electric, and converting their trains to run on bio-diesel. Efforts too turned to the gasoline engines that powered the cars of Autopia. The new engines, provided in part thanks to the sponsor at the time, Chevron, produced two-thirds the emissions the legacy engines did. (Also worth noting, that unleaded gasoline had been the norm in the United States automotive gasoline supply for almost two decades.)
In a 2007 NBC news article covering “greening” efforts in the park, Disneyland’s Director of Environmental Affairs at the time Frank Dela Vara said to NBC alluding to a change even more than just swapping to modern, cleaner, and more fuel-efficient engines:
For some folks, they need the feel of the engine running. They need the sound of the engine running. I like to think that one day we will not use an internal combustion engine and we'll find some way to replicate that part of the experience.
Less than ten years later, the powertrain, the sponsor, and the cars were swapped out once again. In 2016, Honda, who have their US headquarters a few cities away from Anaheim, took over as the new sponsor for Autopia.
The magazine Autoweek upon reviewing the newly-improved Autopia wrote:
The process includes repainting all 96 Autopia cars in several different Honda colors, from Kona coffee metallic to white diamond pearl. There are also Honda badges front and rear on all the cars. New tires are part of the deal, too, as well as new engines. Gone are the old 286cc Kawasaki mills, replaced with Honda’s own iGX series of engines (remember, Honda makes everything from business jets to weed wackers, so a small engine is just another product in a big portfolio of mechanical wonders). The 270cc iGX270 makes 8.5 hp at 3,600 rpm and 14.1 lb-ft of torque at 2,500 revs. The new powerplants are no rattly lawn mower polluters from the ‘50s, either: They include everything from variable-timing digital CDI ignition to CARB and EPA certification. Honda says the engine is “…one of the best in the business. More power. Quieter performance. Lower fuel consumption. Lower emissions. Better features. Exceptional performance. Honda’s GX series lives up to the legend, and then some.”
But even Autoweek briefly pondered whether the ride should still be powered by gasoline engines in general.
Should there be a more sophisticated powertrain on these cars? Say, electric drive? Yes. The Autopia in Disneyland Hong Kong gets electric drive. Considering that there is already that metal center rail, how hard could it be to construct some sort of slot car-like inductive charging for an electric motor? That’d certainly be cleaner, emissions-wise, and quieter.
II. The Climate-Concerned DisneyAdult Activist
“The problem with contemporary journalists is that they have been taught that their role is to train the masses in how to perceive and respond to information. As such, they remain an existential threat to our democracy.”
-Michael Malice
“The air tastes putrid. The traffic is terrible. The engines are loud, the oil-stained roadways ugly and antiquated,” writes Los Angeles “Enemy of Regular Californians” Times’ chief Climate Crisis hysteric Sammy Roth on April the second thus year.
One would think Roth removed his five masks, got at least three more boosters, grew a pair, and travelled to the dozens of mega-polluted megacities in the developing world to finally got a chance to experience what it’s like in such places. Such experiences which were decades ago actually the norm in places such as Los Angeles prior to first world amenities such as modern environmental laws, unleaded gasoline, and catalytic converters. Such places where most of the cars run without modern emissions control systems and where those who cannot afford cars instead travel on cheap imported small displacement motorcycles and Tuk Tuks both of which tend to run on primitive two and four-stroke engines.
But no, Roth is talking about Autopia the small (fantasy) amusement ride in Disneyland. He wrote that in the piece,“Column: Disneyland is ditching gas cars at Autopia. It’s a great first step for Tomorrowland.”
As dozens of YouTube videos can confirm, Autopia is doesn’t have “traffic,” and the course is not “oil-stained.” It’s a damned amusement park ride. Apparently, LA’s own Roth, has not been out on the streets of his own LA. The traffic is indeed nasty, some of the engines are loud, and there may be a few oil spots or two - but nowhere near the amount of oil spots in times past. As for “ugly and antiquated?” At least for the ugly part, opinions on the appearance of this literal fantasyland are of course varied, but Roth’s own Los Angles has miles of streets covered in literal human shit, used needles, and trash. Oh, and La Sombrita, a “project” the out-of-touch woke cretins at the LA Times “defended.”
Roth continues, “In news shared exclusively with The Times ahead of this column’s publication — after several weeks of my prodding the company for answers on the future of Autopia — Disney officials revealed that pure gasoline engines are on their way out.” He then blabbers narcissistically about how he was his parents were season passholders to the park, he’d sing along to Disney soundtracks, and that he continues “to derive great happiness from all those things.” The piece features an adult Roth wearing a t-shirt with the aliens from the movie “Toy Story” with a Micky Mouse themed ID badge hanging off a lanyard and he’s standing in front of a mock up (oops…. dirty old Volkswagen Bus) as portrayed in the show “Lost.”
One’s gotta wonder, is he a “Disney Adult1?
On top of that, he writes, “I’m convinced that the company wields unmatched power to spur unprecedented progress on the climate crisis.”
Further in the piece, he meets up with two climate activists, Zan Dubin, and Paul Scott, who were protesting outside the park. Neither party work for Disneyland, nor do they appear to know any of the employees but act as Noble Saviors by filing on behalf of Autopia’s staff (with no evidence any of them wanted this) with regulatory agencies such as the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the CARB. The complaints apparently revolve around the employees’ exposure to the engine exhaust. Roth failed to mention Zan Dubin is both a former LA Times staffer and behind the non-profit pro-EV group, Plug In America, however. Nobody here notes any concern from the employees themselves.
Roth later on April 16th openly promoted upcoming protests on his X page, but there he’d at least admits that Zan Dubin was “sponsored by” Plug In America.
Roth is insistent this silly attempt at virtue vomit by Disney is somehow scalable to the rest of his delusions.
He continues, “Seriously, this is an emergency: Cars, trucks and other modes of transportation are America’s biggest source of heat-trapping pollution. They also belch tiny, invisible particles that can make living too close to freeways deadly.” He even believes that the more Disney uses gas-powered vehicles, there’s somehow the idea that it’s “teaching kids and their parents that pumping oil into a tank is the way of tomorrow.” Additional demands from him are to use some of the park’s unused buildings to show park visitors “green items” such as solar panels and lithium-ion batteries. He even suggests one of the pizza restaurants should “switch to electric cooking” and “offer induction stove demos for diners.” Roth seems to forget this is an amusement park - a place where adults take their children to temporarily escape from the real world. But then again what gives? The world Roth wants is a fantasy land.
III. The Enemy (of Regular Californians) Strikes Back
…
multiple times
That April 2nd piece wasn’t the last from Roth or the LA “Larry Elder is the Blackface of White Supremacy” Times.
Less than a week later, on the fifth of the month, the Editorial Board, another fountain of bovine excrement stepped in with, “Disneyland’s gas-fueled Autopia cars showcase the worst of Todayland. EVs are a good start.”
“It’s about time,” they cry. They whine, this ride, which is literally for children (and Disney adults), “showcases some of the most soul-sucking parts of modern life: gas-guzzling cars spewing smelly exhaust, bumper-to-bumper traffic and impatient drivers.” It’s one of dozens of other rides available at the park and apparently it has enough demand by park visitors for Disneylands operators to keep it running.
In the spirit of Utopia they further ask, “why stop there?” “There” the board demands is a transition to full EVs, not hybrids which are haram to this sect of the Climate Taliban. The Board demands “incorporating electric bikes and scooters, self-driving cars and autonomous buses,” along with an obligatory nod to the existing monorail in the park.
Ready for more?
Are your eyes sore from the constant rolling?
Roth came back just a few days later. He whined more in his piece on on the 9th of April with, “Hurry up with the electric cars, Disneyland. There’s no time to waste”
This time the targets are turned onto Honda. Er, I mean Haramda.
So I was especially disturbed, when I rode Autopia last month for the first time in years, to realize how eager Honda appears to be to leave riders with the impression that its involvement with the attraction somehow contributes to a greener future.
Several videos that play for guests waiting in line feature Honda’s ASIMO robot character apparently getting ready for a road trip. One of the videos shows ASIMO seemingly deciding where to travel, sitting at a computer scrolling through illustrated images of landscapes including Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park and Sequoia National Forest.
The terrible irony is that many of those landscapes are increasingly being torn apart by bigger, hotter wildfires and other weather disasters made worse by global warming, and overwhelmed by air pollution from gasoline vehicles on our freeways.
To recap: LA Times’ Sammy Roth is saying all this about mini-cars in a theme park powered by tiny modern gas engines. Said gas engines were even blessed by one of his beloved Gods, the Great, Noble, and Holy California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Here’s the document right here.
IV. Is the third time a charm?
“Patience, young grasshopper”
On April 18th, Roth was back at it again with “Disneyland just promised electric cars at Autopia. Gas will be gone by 2026.”
“Would the new ride vehicles be purely electric? Or would they be hybrids that still burned some climate-wrecking, oil-based fuel? And how long would it take for Walt Disney’s creative and engineering heirs to make the long-overdue switch?,” he wonders.
It’s still the fourth but almost the fifth month of the Year of Our Blessed Gaia 2024. The Year of Our Blessed Gaia 2026 is still almost two-years away. FFS, have some patience!
Very little is new in this third installment of the Rothbath but Zan Dublin does many an encore appearance. Linking to the earlier-mentioned X post, Roth officially places Zan Dublin’s protest at entrance of Disneyland into the LA Times’ record, “Dubin had been planning to lead a rally outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank on Sunday, to urge the company to do better on Autopia. She’s told me she’s moving forward with the event, although she said it will now be more of a celebration.”
Roth goes on:
The stories that Disney tells at its theme parks — and on its streaming services, cruise ships and other platforms — are far more than entertainment. They play a powerful role in shaping how we understand our world and ourselves.
In other words, Disney can’t be a place where children (and adult-children) can go to just have fun and forget about all the bullshit in the real world for a few hours. It must be a propaganda vessel for “politically correct,” “progressive,” Gaia-worshipping dogma.
IV. Flatulence: The Frangrance
I just couldn’t sit back and be a part of destroying the earth anymore.
On April 17th, The Enemy of Regular Californians fished the Peanut Gallery for some manufactured consent in, “Autopia is better for Knott’s Ghost Town than Disney’s Tomorrowland. Electrify now”
If you think the Sammy Roth and the Editorial Board have some something wrong in the head, hold this beer.
This delusional narcissism-driven letter is reproduced in its entirety below:
To the editor: I was lucky enough to ride Disneyland’s Autopia the year it opened. Much of the carbon dioxide pollution from my 1955 ride is still in our atmosphere and still warming our planet. It will be there for hundreds of years to come. (“Hurry up with the electric cars, Disneyland. There’s no time to waste,” column, April 9)
But, this old dog has learned some new (pollution-reducing) tricks.
For nearly five years, I’ve enjoyed driving an all-electric Hyundai Kona. I can travel more than 70 miles on $5 worth of electrons from Southern California Edison, though nearly all of my fuel actually comes from the the much cheaper and cleaner solar panels on my roof.
Fossil-fueled cars were cutting edge in the 19th century. They are now more appropriate for Knott’s Berry Farm’s Ghost Town than for Disney’s Tomorrowland.
For the sake of our kids and grandkids, later is too late. Electrify now.
Tom Hazelleaf, Seal Beach
Sniffs….mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
V. The Disneyland Tantrumportation Device
“Any person with a familiarity with the engineering realities of modern life will realize that the policies and demands of fiat people when it comes to energy are as reasonable as the child who wants to go to Disneyland but throws tantrums refusing to get into the car taking him to Disneyland because he doesn’t want to get into the car; he just wants to get into Disneyland.”
-Dr. Saifedean Ammous in The Fiat Standard: The Debt Slavery Alternative to Human Civilization
Dr. Ammous could not have mocked a greater stain on society than tantrum-throwing children on their way to Disneyland to open the section on Fiat Thermodynamics in his masterpiece The Fiat Standard: The Debt Slavery Alternative to Human Civilization. The catch here is that somehow those who want to throw such tantrums magically arrive to Disneyland. They likely took motor vehicles, powered by hydrocarbons, to the park, yet bitch and moan about the one amusement park ride in the park that somewhat imitates the very way they got to said side. Is that meta or what? Normal people cannot conceive of such stupidity. Roth, the LA Time Editorial Board, and fart-sniffer extraordinaire Hazelleaf all fit the roles of the tantrum-throwing, fiat-minded ”adult” child. Instead of treating these clowns for the obvious mental delusions they have, instead they are front and center in continuing the decline and de-civilization of California.
I'm pleased to see that Sammy Roth annoys you as much as he does me.
Well done, and thank you!
Sammy Roth and his clones really are morons.
“ but Roth’s own Los Angles has miles of streets covered in literal human shit, used needles, and trash. Oh, and La Sombrita, a “project” the out-of-touch woke cretins at the LA Times “defended.”
Look at the Utopia these individuals have created!